In the mix with the World’s best DJ’s

With the advancement in audio technology, anyone with a bit of skill and passion can easily become a successful DJ. The equipment is getting so small and competitively priced that you don’t need expensive technology to produce a decent sounding beat. DJ equipment for sale like the humble turntable and DJ controllers are easily available and even the cheaper stuff is of very good quality.

If you aspire to be the best DJ in the world then you should probably know what you are up against. Forbes recently released a list of the highest paid DJs in the world. These rankings were for dance music’s top-earning DJs for the past 12 months. These figures are inclusive of money made from live shows, recorded music sales, external business ventures, endorsements and merchandise sales.

The Top Five DJ’s in the World

We will go through the top five and give you an overview of their careers, as well as great DJ equipment and some tips on how to make it to the top of the DJ world.

5. Steve Aoki ($24 million – Tied with number 4)

Steven Hiroyuki Aoki is an American born electro house DJ. He is also a record producer and a music executive. In 2014 Steve released the Neon Future albums that made 32 on the Billboard 200 and was the number one dance/electro albums chart and number 4 on the independent music chart.

Steve Aoki has been nominated for many of the electronic dance music’s industries awards. In 2007 Steve got the award for the Best Party Rocker DJ by BPM Magazine, Best Set of the Season at the Ibiza Awards and the Best DJ of the Year by Paper Magazine. In 2012, Steve Aoki was named number 15 in the Top 100 DJs by the renowned DJ Magazine, and was named America’s 2nd best DJ on the turntable.

4. Skrillex ($24 million – Tied with number 5)

Skrillex’s full name is Sonny John “Skrillex” Moore. He was born in 1988 and Grew up in Northern California. He is an Electronic music producer, DJ, songwriter and singer. Skrillex started off his music career singing for the post hardcore band From First to Last and recorded two albums with the band before going solo in 2009 with his electronic music album titled the Gypsyhook EP. He has since released seven more albums.

In terms of awards, Skrillex was nominated for five Grammy Awards during the 54th Grammy Awards These were for Best New Artist and won three of these nominations. Since then, Skrillex has won a total of six Grammy Awards. In 2011, Skrillex was nominated for dance industries Sound of 2012 poll and in December 12, 2011, he was also named MTV’s Artist of the Year for Electronic Dance Music.

Most people don’t know that Skrillex enjoys composing and recording his music with a very minimal and portable DJ set setup. He carries around portable DJ equipment that is run through a MacBook pro and Ableton live music producing software.

3. Tiësto ($36 million)

Tijs Michiel Verwest is a Dutch Born DJ and record producer that goes by the name of Tiësto. He founded the record label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink in 1997. After collaborating with many different EDM artists, he decided to release his own solo album title In My Memory in 2001. Since that album Tiësto has been voted world number one by the DJ magazines annual Top 100 DJs readership poll, for three consecutive years until 2004. Since then Tiësto has released five more studio albums that have all received great praise from the EDM (electro dance music) industry.

Tiesto has his own line of headphones and uses a SL-1210 M5G Technics turntable when recording his music.

2. David Guetta ($37 million)

Pierre David Guetta is a French DJ, record producer and remixer, famous for his remixes of popular songs. David has released six studio albums which began in 2002 with the artist’s first album entitled “Just a Little More Love”. He only gained mainstream recognition from his 2009 studio album that was entitled “One Love”. Three songs off of this album reached number one in the United Kingdom. His following album entitled “Nothing but the Beat” had five chart topping songs. David Guetta has sold over nine million albums and then thirty million singles all over the world. The prestigious DJ Mag’s top 100 DJ’s poll voted him the best DJ for 2011. In 2015 Billboard announced his single “When Love Takes Over” as the biggest dance/pop song to have ever been made in electronic dance history.

1. Calvin Harris ($66 million)

Adam Richard Wiles, better known as Calvin Harris, was born in 1984 and is Scottish DJ, singer, record producer, songwriter and remixer of other people’s music. Calvin released his first album in 2007 and had two songs reach the top ten charts around the world. His second studio album was released in 2009 which quickly reached number one in the UK albums chart. Within just two month this album received a gold certificate from the British Phonographic Industry and a single off of this album entitled “I’m Not Alone” was the artist’s first number one single on the UK Singles Chart. After the release of his third studio album Harris gained international fame. The song off of this album called “We Found Love” managed to reach the top ten of the UK singles chart and then number one on the Billboard hot 100 chart. Harris’s fourth album entitled “Motion,” which was released in 2014 reached number two in the United Kingdom charts and number five in the United States charts.

Calvin Harris holds the record for the highest amount of hits from one studio album on the UK singles chart, surpassing Michael Jackson’s record with nine hits. He was the first artist to have three songs on the top ten billboard charts at the same time. Harris has received numerous awards including seven Brit Nominations, four Grammy nominations and he won the Grammy for the Best Music Video in 2013. He was named the top electronic dance artist of 2015 at the Billboard Music Awards.

The Most Used DJ Equipment for sale

There you have it, for the highest paid DJs in 2015, let’s talk a bit about some of the most used DJ equipment for sale on the market today. It’s difficult to say what the best DJ equipment on the market is but here are some of the highest rated by those in the industry.

Speakers

Some of the best DJ speakers for sale are the powered JBL EON 515XT speakers. They are said to have the perfect balance between versatility and sound quality. These are class D power amps that pump out 625 watts of audible perfection. They are also very sensitive so you can still get the low end that you want. The JBL EON 515XT speaker has a built in mixer and many different inputs. These speakers for sale are lightweight and tough.

Amplifier

According to most DJ’s, the best amplifier for sale is the Crown XLS2500. The amplifier has varying levels of Ohms per channel. This means that you can regulate each channel separately. At 4 Ohms you will get 775 watts per channel, the 2,400 watts per channel at 4 Ohms bridged and at 8 Ohms you will get 440 watts per channel. The Crown XLS2500 only weights just under five kg’s with a special Pureband Crossover system that further improves the system’s sound quality.

Turntable

The most important part of any DJ’s arsenal is the turntable. There are a lot of opinions on this but the turntable for sale that will give you the most for your money is the TECHNICS SL-1200 Mk.II. This little beauty is an industry standard and is the newer version of the tried and tested original TECHNICS SL-1200. It has a very efficient quartz direct drive and is made from an aluminium die cast with a very durable rubber base that allows it to absorb vibrations. You will get a high torque drive with an 8 pitch control that is very reliable. This has been trusted by DJs for over 25 years and you can trust it too.

So that’s some of the best DJ equipment for sale on the market. Now we will give you five tips on being a great DJ to get you started in the right direction.

5 tips on how to DJ

If you want to be the best DJ out there, you need to make sure you follow these five rules:

1. Play music for your audience

Play music that your audience enjoys and not what you want to necessarily play. Don’t drop a techno track at a hip hop event for example. Just because you are in the mood to hear something, don’t expect the audience to feel the same way. Test the waters and introduce different elements slowly, if the audience reacts badly then don’t do it again. Don’t be a selfish DJ.

2. Do your homework

Get to know each and every single song in your collecting like the back of your hand. You have to know exactly how fast each beat is and how you can mix them into each other successfully. There is nothing worse than a bad transition or a badly timed mix.

3. Create original bootleg remixes

If you have a song that you like or hear something that you think you can work with then take it and make it your own. Practice makes perfect and the best way to practice is to make remixes. This is also a great way to get your music out there. The reason bands play covers is because people can easily identify with the songs. This also applies when it comes to tips on how to DJ in the sense that your music will more easily be liked by those that like the original song.

4. Learn how to make a great set

In a long DJ set you want to start off slow and slowly build up the tempo. You want to transition between genres then peak and break down the set. If you get this wrong you could very well upset your audience. Transition between your songs nicely and leave no room for error, practice the set over and over until it’s perfect.

5. DJ for the thrill…not the money or fame.

If you are a DJ so you can stand in front of an audience and throw your hand in the air then you are doing it for the wrong reasons. You should feel joy from the music itself and that should be all that you need to motivate yourself. If you are enjoying the music, then other people will too. Being a DJ is also a lot of hard work and dedication and if you think you will be making money from day one, then you won’t last very long as a DJ.